desserts

Explore Ohio // Wayne County

July 3, 2017 by Rachel 27 Comments

Confession: I grew up in Amish country.

Okay, so many of you may already know that about me; but some of you may not know what exactly that means. It means that our high school consisted of students from 3 different towns coming together to attend school (but still only graduating with 83 people); it means that we had “drive your tractor to school day;” it means my best friend in elementary school was amish — and, yes, I’ve ridden in a buggy several times; oh — and it means that my hometown doesn’t even have so much as a flashing yellow light, let alone a stoplight!

So when I was recently asked to visit Wayne County, Ohio — also considered amish country AND home of the Ohio Light Opera — I was intrigued, but skeptical. I mean, how could amish country impress a little country bumpkin like me!? 😛

But guys. Wayne County changed me. Well, that may be a tad bit dramatic; but I seriously never would have or could have imagined that this place just an hour from my home in Akron, could be so amazing!

We started our grand tour of greater Wayne County by heading out to Lehman’s Hardware Store. My friend kerry had mentioned that I would love Lehman’s. But neither her nor their slogan of “for a simpler life,” didn’t convince me.

But approximately 3 minutes into our trip into the amazingness that is Lehman’s, I was sold. SOLD, ya’ll! I mean, it didn’t hurt that this place was comprised of so many of both mine and Chad’s favorite things — we just didn’t realize that this constituted “homesteading”!

Rain barrels, compost bins, old-fashioned push-mowers, cast-iron skillets, and wood-burning stoves — you name it! In fact, the other girls on the trip were surprised by how much of what they offer we already incorporate into our daily lives. I suppose we’re semi-homesteaders of some sort?? Who knew!?

Our next stop was Quince Bakery and Café. I can honestly say that never did I expect some of the finest bread and baked goods to come from a tiny bakery in Wayne County, Ohio! I mean, I find myself to be a bit of a baked-goods snob. In fact, my husband and friends tend to poke fun at me for being the kind of person that simply must buy and taste all of the baked goods, but only to hoard them. Is there a “Hoarders: Baked Goods Edition”??!! I kid!

I. am. in love with the food from this tiny bakery — and thrilled to find out that she travels to Akron for the Countryside Conservancy Market in Highland Square every Thursday! Hooray!

And somehow I convinced her to let me buy some of the amazingly soft and fluffy focaccia bread she was saving for the market! I could eat only this bread for the rest of my life, ya’ll! Seriously.

Next up was a quick stop by Shisler’s Cheese House. Shisler’s is a teeny, hole-in-the-wall, kinda place, with delicious, soft, swiss cheese on the counter for patrons to try. It was delicious and this family-owned business (for THREE generations!) had such an awesome vibe!

Believe it or not, there was still time (and room!) for more baked goods! That’s right — we stopped by the Dutch Kitchen Bakery, a mennonite and amish bakery in the heart of Wayne County, for a tour of the bakery (ya’ll those mixers were HUGE!).

The manager told us that an old Amish woman comes in every morning (sometimes at 3am!) to make all of the dough for the pies and fry pies — every single day!! PS. We had a strawberry rhubarb fry pie and bumbleberry fry pie. They did not disappoint. 😉

And, I mean, look at the size of this donut!! Crazypants!!

Our next stop was a place I’d been meaning to visit for a very long time — the J.M. Smucker Company Store + Café. Little known fact that our great state of Ohio is home to the Smucker’s corporation — which is actually headquarters to Jif, Pillsbury, Crisco, Dickinson’s, Hungry Jack, Santa Cruz Organics, Folgers, and Dunkin Donuts, to name a few!

I was in shopping heaven! We may or may not have bought a plethora of jams and juices to bring home (I mean, when in ~~Rome~~, Wayne County, right?!).

We rounded out or day in Wayne, County with a trip to the Pine Tree Barn. The Pine Tree Barn restaurant, the Granary, which is only open for lunch, features amazing house-made salads, entrees, and desserts.

The food and desserts were amazing! And so was the infused iced tea. OMG we drank so much of that, it’s ridiculous. And after our lunch we wandered through the old barn, which acts as a furniture and furnishings store.

I also told my husband that we MUST come back during the holidays for a carriage ride and to cut down our own Christmas tree!

Chad and I have already discussed our next trip to Wayne County! Another trip to Lehman’s and Quince are definitely in order — soon! Thankfully, we’re only an hour away from this delightful place! I hope that you’ll consider visiting Wayne County, Ohio for your next weekend getaway!

Thank you to the Wayne County CVB for sponsoring this trip! As always, all opinions herein are my own. #DoWoo

Kid-Friendly Kitchen Crafts!

April 14, 2016 by Rachel Leave a Comment

When I found out I was going to be a mom, I had visions of what Motherhood would be. You know, not just rainbows and butterflies. Or even meltdowns and panic attacks. Honestly, I had visions and dreams of coloring, painting, and other crafts! You know, typical kid stuff, right??

Wrong. Oh-so-wrong! It turns out boys are … different, to say the least! OK, OK. Before you want to punch me, hear me out. I totally was all about the “it’s nurture, not nature” side of the debate. Buuuut, try as I might to have a gender-neutral child, the rough and tumble is totally built into this kids’ DNA.

But my rough and tumbly kid still likes to do ‘craffffs.’ Yep. He’s definitely a crafty kid! However, I have to carefully plan our crafty projects because he’s still a boy. He has a fairly short attention span, so I keep him ‘tied down’ for the absolute shortest period of time possible. And the way that I do that is by choosing to do Kid-Friendly Kitchen Crafts!

Why? Because they not only produce delicious results, but they can also be prepped ahead of time and are done on a surface that can be cleaned easily — the kitchen counter! 😛

Ari’s Mimi (my mom) recently bought Ari a Star Wars apron for when we do crafts and he was so excited to put it to good use!

Our first adventure in kitchen crafts was the ever-so-popular Unicorn Bark! I saw this on Facebook a while back and I knew Ari would love to try his hand at making it!

Like so many kids activities, there was a lot of Mommy prep for a fairly short kitchen craft! I purchased four different colors of pastel colored melting chocolates from the local craft store (I prefer Pat Catan’s!) and a 6-flavor pack of brightly-colored sprinkles. That’s it.

I melted the chocolates according to the directions on the bag (which means slowly and steadily). And I had Ari waiting patiently to do his part. He had his mini-baking sheet ready for the melted chocolates! I greased the baking sheets (besides Ari’s mini-baking sheet, I had a regular sized baking sheet) with coconut oil. As soon as the chocolates were melted, I hurried and dropped dollops of color randomly and sporadically on the baking sheet. Once the baking sheet was covered, Ari used a spoon to drag the colors and swirl them together.

Once the colors were swirled together to his liking, we went crazy with the sprinkles! Post-sprinkles we shoved the baking sheets into the freezer for about an hour to harden the chocolate. The result? This glamorous looking gem!

Totally cute and totally fun! Ari absolutely loved doing this kitchen craft and we are still reaping the deliciously edible benefits!

Another one of our favorite, easy, and slightly more messy kitchen crafts is homemade pizza. For this kitchen craft I purchase some ready-made pizza dough. My personal favorite is from Corbo’s Bakery in Little Italy. I picked up a couple of them recently and then let Ari play around with one.

I spread some flour on the kitchen counter and told Ari to just spread it out. He did a great job and, most importantly, he had SO much fun! I was impressed at how quickly he learned to pound on the dough and roll it out! It was awesome!

Our pizza was lopsided and delicious! We topped it with some Trader Joe’s Pizza Sauce, Basil, and Organic Mozzarella Cheese! Yum, yum, yum! It was so delicious that I somehow forgot to snap a picture of that lopsided monstrosity. Ha!

Of all the different types of crafts we have available, kitchen crafts will always be my favorite. Next week I have a ‘slow’ week at work and I plan on getting Ari in the kitchen with me every single day. I’ll be sure to update you with our future kitchen endeavors! 🙂

The Only Banana Bread Recipe You Will Ever Need

March 30, 2016 by Rachel 1 Comment

Since I lost my job in December (eek – still stings a little to say!) I’ve been upping my domesticity game in a major way. Not only have I been keeping myself on a ‘cleaning schedule’ [ugh — that sounds terribly domestic], but I’ve also been trying to stay on a meal schedule of some sort.

And that includes breakfast.

Sure, it doesn’t always work out the way I want it to; but I stick to a ‘semi’ plan — which is helpful. I’m not going to lie — a lot of our breakfasts have included Organic Pop Tarts (yep – we’re totes real AND crunchy granola like that). But about every other week I make this AhhhMAZING banana bread and we can’t help but eat it morning, afternoon, and night. Seriously.

[gmc_recipe 9465]I can’t help but cut myself a piece while it’s still warm. I toast it for a few minutes and put a teeny bit* [*relative term] of butter on it… life-changing!

So please — if you’ve got some bananas on the counter that are turning an ugly color, consider putting them to good use with an awesome banana bread recipe! You won’t be mad. I promise. 😉

Red + White // Wrap Up

February 3, 2016 by Rachel 1 Comment

The Arthritis Foundation of Northeast Ohio‘s annual fundraiser in Akron, Red & White on Thursday Night, is easily my favorite event of the entire year! Heck, even having just given birth, I desperately wanted to still attend. So last Thursday, at just 5 days old, Remy, Chad and I ventured to Quaker Station at Quaker Square for just a short time!

Luckily, we are very close to where the event is located; so with a babysitter for Ari [thanks, Grammy!], we bundled Miss Remy Bea up, and arrived shortly before 6pm. This was the 19th annual event for the Arthritis Foundation, and I believe it was also our 4th or 5th time attending [mommy brain is real, yo].

The entrance to the event was located at a different part of the building this year, and some new computer software they were using for auction-bidding slowed down the entrance process to a practical halt. My single critique of the event is that they should have set up the credit card/auto-bid process for the auction when people were purchasing tickets presale. Because it wasn’t set up that way, everyone who had a ticket in their hands, still had to wait in a half hour line. And for those of us with willcall tickets, we had to wait in line for a half hour as well. It was crazypants. And people were super upset. I was just super uncomfortable because I was babywearing Remy Bea.

When we finally got in, we went straight for the VIP room to meet up Crystal from EatDrinkCLE. Both Crystal and I weren’t feeling 100% well, but we managed to make sure we didn’t miss the event — even if that meant having to leave a bit early! After saying our hellos, I went straight for the wine and food [recognizing I’m a nursing mother, and I was wearing a sleeping baby, I recognized my ‘window of opportunity’ to taste a couple of sips of wine had to happen at the very beginning of the evening].

The VIP wine selection was beautiful. I wish I could say that I took a ton of pictures, but I didn’t. Because, babywearing an infant [duh]. But, thanks to the VIP section, I did have the opportunity to taste two fantastic wines — a Malbec and a Cab. And that was, sadly, all the wine I had that night. Because, nursing.

[borrowed this photo from Jen at Why? CLE]One of the awesome changes the organization did make this year was the introduction of a VIP Chef in the VIP lounge! Chef Dante Boccuzzi, of local Akron restaurant, dba, as well as Dante in Tremont, and Ginko in Tremont [as well as several other restaurants], was serving up tasty sushi!

We ate so much of this sushi. Seriously. I mean, I hadn’t really and truly had sushi in about 9 months, so I was pumped to not only have sushi, but really, really, great sushi!

After checking out the complimentary chair massages, courtesy of Massage Envy, and pastry and coffee bar, courtesy of Panera, we headed out to the general admission area. I’m not going to lie, I was super nervous to join the masses. I was afraid of judgment from other attendees for babywearing an infant at a 21 and over event!

To my surprise, people were just super excited to see a newborn baby! No judgment whatsoever. So we made the rounds! I knew I had a very strict food limit. Being postpartum and being sick means my appetite is close to nothing. So instead of hitting up every single place, I carefully planned my ‘attack.’ Ha!

Two places that were ‘musts’ were Nuevo Mod Mex [pictured above] and Melt Bar + Grilled. Nuevo had an awesome taco, but Melt disappointed me a bit. They had dessert cookie sandwiches. Bummer, cause I was totally looking forward to a tasty grilled cheese sample! Also, the cheesecake shooters [also pictured above] from West Side Bakery was awesome!

Chad hit up a few more restaurants while I chatted with Jen from Why? CLE and her husband, Matthew, as well as my longtime friends Cristin and Chris. [above picture also borrowed from Jen! Again, I didn’t have much access to my phone throughout the event.]

We ended up leaving around 7:30pm. I was just… tired. And I wanted to get Remy Bea home so I could feed her before bed. All in all, it was a great first night out and a great event, yet again!

Disclosure: I was asked by the Arthritis Foundation of Northeast Ohio to help promote Red & White on Thursday Night and run a ticket giveaway. In exchange, I received 2 complimentary VIP tickets. As always, all opinions are my own.

GIVEAWAY | Red + White on Thursday Night

January 7, 2016 by Rachel 8 Comments

Chad and I have had the honor of attending one of Akron’s most anticipated events, Red and White on Thursday Night, for the last 4 years in a row. And even though Baby Girl is expected to arrive just a week before this years event, I plan on my first post-baby outing to be the 19th Annual Red & White On Thursday Night, Thursday, January 28th, 2016!

The event will be taking place at Quaker Station in beautiful Downtown Akron, presented by the Cleveland Clinic Akron General, from 5:30PM to 9:00PM, and benefits the Arthritis Foundation of Northeastern Ohio.

The event, voted one of the best in Akron by AkronLife Magazine, is expected to raise more than $82,000. All proceeds support critical local Arthritis Foundation initiatives including advocacy and access, help and support, and research.

Arthritis is the nation’s leading cause of disability and affects more than 50 million Americans and nearly 300,000 children. In Northeastern Ohio, nearly 1.3 million people of all ages have been diagnosed with arthritis. More than 108,000 of those are Summit County residents, according to 2013 figures.

Nearly 750 guests are expected to attend and enjoy delicious dishes from Akron’s top chefs and a variety of both domestic and international wines, while checking out offerings from the available silent auction. VIP ticket holders will have access to both general admission areas as well as exclusive access to special fare from Chef Dante Boccuzzi of DBA, specialty desserts and high-end wine pairings.

Participating restaurants include: Chef Dante Boccuzzi of DBA, Barmacy Bar & Grill, Bistro on Main, BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse, Cilantro Thai & Sushi Restaurant, Chocolates by Erin, Chowder House Café, Hudson’s Restaurant & Catering, Melt Bar and Grilled – Akron, Nuevo Modern Mexican & Tequila Bar, Panera Bread, Saffron Patch in the Valley, Silver Lake Country Club, The Galaxy Restaurant & Banquet Center, The Pierogi Lady, The Taverne of Richfield, Thorpe’s Market Avenue Grill & Pub, and West Side Bakery! I’m getting hungry just thinking about it now!

Honestly, speaking from experience, this is one of the most anticipated date nights we have all year. Chad loves it, I love it, and we are always fed well and surrounded by so many fun people!

And one lucky reader will get a chance to win TWO General Admission tickets (valued at $85 each) to the event. I just ask that those who enter be local to Northeastern Ohio and willing to attend this amazing event on January 28th!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
General admission tickets are $85 presale and $95 at the door. VIP Lounge tickets are $125 presale, and $135 at the door. Purchase tickets online at www.akronredandwhite.com or call 216-285-2822!

** Disclosure: I was not compensated for this post, but did receive two complimentary tickets to the event. All opinions herein are my own. I just really really love this event and believe in this cause! **